How Many Seats in Congress Is Control of Redistricting Worth?

How large a benefit is partisan control of the redistricting process? Do legal constraints on redistricting—such as the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act—alter this benefit? Are institutions designed to reduce the benefit to partisan control—such as redistricting commissions—effective? To measure the effects of partisan districting on the electoral fortunes of the parties, we collect data on the partisan composition of state government, House election outcomes, and moderating institutions over an 80-year period. Our results suggest that over time, both parties have benefited from unified control, with the effects largest in states where voters were evenly divided among the parties and smallest in states where the controlling party had a large advantage in the electorate. The effects have changed over time, with both parties having equally benefited from control during the middle of the 20th century, the benefit largely disappearing in the late part of the century, and the Republican Party seeing a moderate advantage from control in the current century. The benefits of partisan control were not diminished in states with redistricting commissions. The preclearance requirement appears to have hurt the Democratic Party except when its vote share was very low. The aggregate effects of partisan redistricting are moderate in magnitude—in the modern period, this effect has typically been less than 10 House seats, with the last election where control of the House would have flipped in expectation occurring in 1954.     

Raised By a Predator: Sex Offender Parents and an Effort To Keep Them Out of the Child's Home

Registered sex offenders are obligated to comply with rules put forth by their state's registry. While there are stringent guidelines regarding the offender's interaction with the public, a sex offender's ability to obtain custody of their child is less rigid. Statutes differ on the level of scrutiny referencing their right to parent, which leaves an opening for offenders to abuse their child. This Note proposes the adoption of a model statute in which registered Tier III sex offender parents who were convicted for a crime involving a minor are precluded from gaining physical or legal custody of their child.     

商标财产化的负面效应及其化解

商标本为一种用于区别来源的工具。然而,现代商标法将之财产化,并采用民法财产权体系中的绝对权保护模式。绝对权的认知结构预设着强有力的私权保护,这为商标权的强化和扩张埋下了种子。商标财产化的理论基础脆弱,经典的自然权利理论、现代的法经济学理论以及商誉论和广告功能保护论都无法为商标财产权提供坚实的理论支撑。商标财产化在实践中产生了一些负面效应,在我国还呈加剧之势,有必要予以纠正。在认知上,需要打破绝对权理念之拘束。在实践中,停止侵害的禁令救济的绝对化适用需加以纠正;混淆之扩张需谨慎对待,以反击"财产论"对"混淆论"的挤压。此外,还需提升商标性使用的地位,使其扮演商标法"守门人"角色,以期对商标财产权的不断扩张进行约束和限制。     

论紧急状态下限权原则的建构思路与价值基础——以我国《突发事件应对法》为分析对象

在我国《突发事件应对法》中,究竟有没有必要设置一些限制权利的基本原则?如果有必要,应当如何建构它们?在这个过程中,人们又会遇到哪些困难?基于法律体系的内部融贯性,这部法律必须认真对待普通民众的基本权利,并且需要设置一种动态的限权原则。这些原则不仅可以有针对性地应对突发事件的自身特质,彰显我国宪法对待权利的基本态度,而且能够满足现代法治对权利与权力之间相互平衡的期许。     

敦煌吐鲁番借贷契约的抵赦条款与国家对民间债负的赦免——唐宋时期民间高利贷与国家控制的博弈

敦煌吐鲁番借贷契约中的"公私债负停征,此物不在停限"、"后有恩赦,不在免限"等抵赦条款,是民间社会对抗国家赦免私债的契约表现.始于北魏时期的国家对私债的赦免,针对的是"偿利过本,翻改券契"等民间高利贷行为;唐、五代及南宋、元初赦令,延续了这个传统.这一赦免初衷,也波及到无息借贷,致使抵赦条款也出现在无息借贷契约中,反映了民间防御意识的加强.契约中的抵赦条款的反复出现与国家免除民间债负赦令的频繁发布,反映了民间高利贷与国家控制的长时间博弈.明清时,国家不再以赦令形式免除私债,契约中的抵赦条款也随即消失.     

村委会选举中的富人贿选现象分析

富人贿选是我国村民自治实践中不可回避的客观现实。富人贿选具有严重的社会危害性,其消极影响主要表现为：压制了农村的民主萌芽,损害了党和政府的形象,加剧了农村社会矛盾,造成了村民“政治冷漠”。结合我国村民自治的发展实践,要想使富人贿选现象得到有效的抑制,一要进一步加强村务公开和民主管理工作,二要不断完善相关法律制度,三要规范村委会成员候选人资格条件,四要加强对选举的指导和监督。     

Telling the stories of others: claims of authenticity in human rights reporting and comics journalism

ABSTRACT

There are various intermediaries bearing witness to distant conflicts and atrocities. They travel to distant parts of the world to collect different kinds of evidence and stories, motivated by the assumption that knowledge can evoke change. This article asks how authenticity is claimed in this context of humanitarian witnessing. It focuses on two, at first sight quite different, practices of representation: NGO human rights reporting and comics journalism, also known as graphic reporting. It argues that representations of first-hand access to sites and people involved in abuses, or of ‘having been there’, figure centrally in establishing authenticity and thereby truth. The article discusses two techniques through which first-hand truth claims are performed: representations of field research methodologies, and personifications of truth in the figure of the witness. The intermediaries chosen for an in-depth study are the human rights NGO Human Rights Watch and the US comics journalist Joe Sacco.     

Developing urban space: the changing role of NGOs in Bangladesh

Rapid urbanisation has been an emerging issue in recent decades, particularly for developing countries such as Bangladesh. As one of world’s largest international NGOs, BRAC, based in Bangladesh, is transiting towards a more integrated approach for alleviating urban poverty. This article presents BRAC’s current journey for eradicating urban poverty and outlines the characteristics of urban poverty, key issues faced by the urban poor, and learning that BRAC has accumulated through its urban interventions. Introducing the concept of “coproduction”, the article identifies BRAC’s priorities to eradicate urban poverty within the context of an overall urban strategy.     

警察院校大学生廉政意识教育长效机制的构建

警察院校大学生预备警官的特殊身份,决定了其廉政意识教育尤为重要。廉政意识教育是一个系统工程,需要建立科学的长效机制,文章着重从建立适合警察院校特点的学员思想政治工作管理体制、建立符合警察院校学员特点的教育体系和不断完善警校学员廉政意识教育的监防体系方面进行了探究。     

The İsmailağa community and its relationship with the AK party

This article aims to demonstrate the importance of the relationship between the Naqshbandi Ismaila?a community and the AK Party (Adalet ve Kalk?nma Partisi, “Justice and Development Party”) government. As one of the most widespread Sufi brotherhoods in the world, the strength of the Naqshbandiyya lies in its characteristic combination of strict adherence to religious law and active involvement in social and political affairs. The ?smaila?a community, one of five main Naqshbandi communities in Turkey, is highly conservative and traditional, historically dominated by elders who have remained aloof from any power struggles within the Turkish government. While the AK Party has developed ties with religious orders in recent years, including the Ismaila?a, some voices within the Ismaila?a community have become critical of this relationship, leading to a rift within the community. In addition, since 2013, and especially after the attempted coup of July 2016, the AK Party has lost the support of its old ally, the Fethullah Gülen movement. This article examines the relationship between the AK Party and religious movements in Turkey as reflected via its relationship with Ismaila?a, and assesses whether the Fethullah Gülen movement can be replaced as a party ally by the Ismaila?a community.